In nursing care of a care-receiver, transferring the care-receiver between a wheelchair and a bed imposes a large burden on a caregiver. Therefore, in order to reduce the burden on the caregiver, there is a bed whose part can be separated and utilized as a wheelchair. The care-receiver is a bedridden aged person or an ailing person.
FIG. 8 shows a conventional movable bed 1. A bed surface of the movable bed 1 is composed of three bed plates including a side bed plate 2, a center bed plate 3, and a side bed plate 4. In order to compose the bed surface, there is a need for moving the center bed plate 3 of a platform truck 5 to a space 3a between the side bed plate 2 and the side bed plate 4. In a state where the side bed plate 4 is brought up to the upper side of a bed main body 1a by utilizing a rotation mechanism 1b, the caregiver moves the center bed plate 3 of the platform truck 5 to the space 3a. By returning the side bed plate 4 to the original position after the platform truck 5 is moved to the space 3a, the bed surface can be formed in the conventional movable bed 1.
The platform truck 5 separated from the movable bed 1 can also be utilized as the wheelchair. In that case, the center bed plate 3 serves as a seating surface of the wheelchair.
FIG. 9 is a side view of the platform truck 5. The center bed plate 3 of the platform truck 5 is composed of a back surface portion 3b, a leg portion 3c, and a bottom portion 3d. In this platform truck 5, by inclining the leg portion 3c in conjunction with inclination of the back surface portion 3b in a state where the bottom portion 3d serves as a horizontal surface, a posture of the center bed plate 3 is changed from a flat posture to a seating posture. In such a way, since the platform truck 5 has a chair posture formation mechanism, the platform truck can also be utilized as the wheelchair (for example, refer to Patent Literature 1).